We’re incredibly excited to announce that Medstro’s Wearables in Healthcare Pilot Challenge is just around the corner. Our judges and finalists will be flying into Boston this week from around the world – and we can’t wait to hear their pitches and comments about the value of wearables in healthcare.

As the sold-out event at Google Cambridge rapidly approaches, we checked in with our judges. We wanted to know: Why do wearables matter, and which ideas will reign supreme at this year’s final smack down?

Jeffrey Greenberg

Jeffrey Greenberg, MD, MBA, is the Medical Director of the Brigham and Women’s Innovation Hub, Associate Medical Director at the Brigham and Women’s Physicians Organization, and Medical Director of the Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management (SCAMP) program at BWH.

How will wearables impact healthcare this year?

I think we’ll see the continued success of ‘wearables 1.0’ in fitness tracking and in appealing to health conscious, relatively well-off, tech savvy consumers. However, wearables need to be more interoperable to allow for integration into clinical workflows. They need evidence to support their use and their reimbursement, so they can be spread to people who can most benefit. And they need to show an ROI (either better clinical outcomes, or reduced spending), so that somebody – payers, providers or patients – will pay for them.

You’ll be judging the Wearables in Healthcare Pilot Challenge on April 23rd. What does a winning entry look like to you?

I think there are many possibilities in this exciting space, but I want to see more than cool technology. The business plan needs to explain who is going to pay for the product and how that entity is going to be convinced to pay. Providers may be at risk, but they are very hesitant to spend money on new, unproven technology.

Jenni Whalen is the Executive Assistant of Editorial at Upworthy. She was previously MedTech Boston's Managing Editor and has an MS in Journalism from Boston University, as well as a BA in Psychology from Bucknell University. Whalen has written for Greatist, Boston magazine, AZ Central Healthy Living and the New England Journal of Medicine, among other places. She has also worked as a conference planner, ghost writer, researcher and content developer.

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